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Jean-Henri Dunant was born in Geneva on May 8, 1828. His family was very religious and followed the teachings of Calvinism; they were widely influential in the city, being politically and socially active. His father was a member of the Representative Council (one of the former legislative branches in the city of Geneva) and used to take care of orphans and ex-prisoners. His mother was daughter of Henri Colladon, director of the city hospital and mayor of Avully. She worked providing humanitarian assistance, especially to the poor and the sick. The philanthropic activities undertaken by his parents influenced their children's education: since early in life they were stimulated to have social responsibility.

Although Dunant began life as a businessman, representing a Genevan company, he soon pursued other paths. In 1859, in order to solve problems related to land exploitation, he decided to appeal directly to French emperor Napoleon III. The emperor was then in command of the French army in Italy. Allied with the Italians, they were striving to expel the Austrians of that territory. Upon witnessing soldiers' suffering at the front in the Battle of Solferino, Dunant immediately organized a first-aid service. Based on that experience, in 1862 he wrote A Memory of Solferino. The book suggested the creation of national relief societies to provide care for the wartime wounded, proposing an international organization to allow improving those people's life conditions. In 1863 Dunant took part in a commission appointed by the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, what resulted in the founding of the International Red Cross, acknowledged in the following year by the Geneva Convention.

Concentrating his attention on humanitarian pursuits, not on business (his firm went bankrupt), Jean-Henri ended up isolating himself in Heiden, Switzerland, in 1895. He was later moved to the hospice of that village. In 1897, he was awarded the Order of Christ by the Portuguese government, and in 1901 he was one of the first winners of the Nobel Prize for Peace, shared with French pacifist Frédéric Passy. Besides the book that gave origin to the Red Cross, Dunant published other materials, such as Notice sur la Régence de Tunis [An Account of the Regency in Tunis] and L'Esclavage chez les musulmans et aux États-Unis d'Amérique [Slavery among the Mohammedans and in the United States of America].

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  14 May 2012
• Date of issue
  Apr 2012